Major Milestones

• In mid-December he started crawling.
• In late February he started pulling himself up.
• By mid-March he was cruising.
• At the end of March he could stand on his own.
• Now he is walking (and shopping).
• Still no hair.

The last year has flown by. Casey is now testing the water with walking, which has lead to a bunch of bumps and bruises. I got to sign 3 accident reports at school this week. He is eating a variety of table food. He still hates green veggies. He is transitioning to whole milk and s sippy cup. Soon he will switch to just one nap a day and move to the Tiny Tot's room at school which means sleeping on a cot instead of a crib. Our Baby Casey is quickly becoming Little CJ, as Ava now like to refer to him.

Sick Days

Courtesy of cousin Milo and his germs that he picked up some some little kid on the airplane, I got a call last week to pick up Casey from school because of a fever. Milo was really sick (fever, very cranky, and not sleeping) for about a week, so I was fearing the worse. Luckily, Casey's virus was much more mild, and after a fun day at home with mom he was able to return to school.

He really is the happiest baby I know.

Helping me, while I worked from home. Look, he is standing on his own.

Then at the beginning of this week I got a call to pick up Elizabeth at school because of fever. Unfortunately, Elizabeth caught a much nastier virus that brought a high fever and hacking cough, which led her to spend two days at home watching cartoons. She was shooting for a third but I told her that there was no one to stay home with her other than Sam the dog. I do have to thank the makers of Tylenol and Motrin. I will proclaim them as wonder drugs. They worked wonderfully for Elizabeth's fever, and she was jammin' by evening number 2.

However, now I am getting a headache from listening to the same songs over and over again since Christmas. Thanks Beau and Alli, don't be surpise when this guitar show up in your mailbox.

Batter Up!

Before Christmas: Elizabeth asked to play T-ball, so we signed her up with a youth team and got her the necessary gear. She was pumped about playing, only for the season to be canceled due to lack of interest.That brings us to the spring: Now there seamed to be no lack of interest and the league was able to put together eight 3-4 year old teams. However, Elizabeth's interest had seemed to wane and she was telling us that she wanted to play soccer instead. Being the great parents that we are (and having already invested money for the registration fee, ball, bat, and glove), we told her she had to play anyway. That of course brought on may rounds of tears, and I was anxious for her behavior at the first practice.Side bar: For those of you who don't know. Elizabeth started gymnastics back in August and loved it. Around January she was starting to say that she didn't like gymnastics any more, and by February the mere mention of gymnastics brought tears, passive aggressive behavior, and her even faking a stomach ache to get out of going to gymnastics. This was especially frustrating to me because I had Ava dying to get into a gymnastics class but can't because she isn't three, and Elizabeth wanting to get out of class. Bottom line, she is finishing out the semester which runs until the beginning of June. She has two of her good friends in class with her, and always comes out smiling and happy at the end of class, and we don't want to endorse quitter behavior. If she wants to take the summer off that is fine. We need to do swimming lessons anyway, and we will re-address gymnastics in the fall when Ava is old enough to take class. Back to T-ball: First practice went well, and the game went even better. (She wore her outfit for two days straight.) Elizabeth loves T-ball, and informed me she doesn't want to go to gymnastics anymore and wants to play T-ball every day. Hopefully, her enthusiasm lasts until the end of the season. I would like to thank her cousin, Chance, for teaching her the fundamentals, she is actually quite good. She is probably the third best kid on her team, an the other two are better only because they will be 5 next month and have bit more speed, power, and coordination. I will tell you it quite funny to watch these kids play. The can't catch, their throwing isn't much better, and some even run the wrong way after hitting the ball two feet, but it is a really good non competitive atmosphere and the kids love it.

Time Out!

"You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit. "

That is our mantra around our house, unfortunately when the girls can't follow this one simple rule it leads to time out. I found this scene somewhat comical as they stood in their respective corners screaming at the top of their lungs, while a concerned Casey crawled between the two of them to inquire what all the fuss was about. Maybe, I should have taken a video instead of just pictures.

There is Nothing Like Weddings and Funerals to Bring People Together

Unfortunately, it was the latter that brought all of our family together...

Elizabeth and I were in the DC area for business at the end of February and made our rounds through Pennsylvania to visit with family. Little did we know that we would be back two weeks later for my grandmother's funeral. It was a sad reason to have to make the trip, but it was truly wonderful to be able to take all the kids with me to meet aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, extended family and friends that we don't get to see as often as we would like. (I also have to mention that is possible to fly solo with 3 kids and car seats. ) I feel especially fortunate to get to see my sister, her husband and two boys again, as they just found out they will be packing up in the next two months and moving to Germany for the next 3 years. Lizzy really enjoys playing with her 3 year old cousin Sam, and says that when she has a baby she is going to name him Baby Cole. We were able to get all of the cousins to sit together for 3.4 seconds and snap a couple of group photos. Grammy of course was happy to have all her grand babies all in one place, but I am also sure she was equally glad when we all left and she had some piece and quiet again.

Casey staring at my mom's crazy dogs in the back yard.

Ryan's father passed as soon as we returned from Pennsylvania, which then brought together the other side of the family. Elizabeth, Ava, and Casey were once again reunited with their other cousins Reina and Milo. New baby Liam was not in attendance, being only 6 days old. With the weather being much warmer in TX than in PA, we were able to take some of the chaos that five children bring outside.It was wonderful to see so much family in such a short time span. Now without all the travel and company, life seems kind of boring. We are back to the daily grind of work, school, eating, and sleeping.

P.S. Somewhere in that month of chaos, I celebrated my birthday. Now, I can really say that I am in my 30's.